Two Years Later
by TheCompositionNotebook
Summary: JJ refelcts on her past as she watches Henry play in the park. And she recieves a surprise that catapults her into the future. Jotch. Thanks to Whitewolf200056 for motivating me to write it!


**I don't usually write any ships or anything, but this is actually a Jotch. I tried it out, just to see. **

**Thanks to Whitewolf200056 for motivating me to do it! =D**

**Hope you like it!**

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JJ looked out across the playground as she sat down, her eyes following her son as he streaked across the grass towards the playground equipment. He zoomed straight up to the highest slide there, as the slide was always his favorite. She watched as he joined the queue of children who were all jostling for their turn.

She took immense pride in the fact that right before he went down, he stopped and turned to the little girl behind him. He let her go before him, and she smiled widely. JJ felt her heart swell with pride that her little boy was such a gentleman. She had taught him well. She hoped desperately that he would hold onto that as he grew up, because honestly, there weren't enough gentlemen out there anymore.

She sighed as she thought of Will. It had been two years since they had officially broken up, but she still felt twinges of annoyance when she thought about it. How he'd acted in the last few months they had been together. He was constantly out till the early hours of the morning, off with some bimbo he met at a bar or just too drunk out of his mind to figure out his way home. She'd put up with most of that for Henry's sake, but she eventually reached a breaking point.

The time he hadn't come home for almost three full days, she'd been scared out of her wits. She'd called him so many times she'd lost track, and he hadn't answered her. She'd filed a missing persons report with the police, even. Finally, he stumbled through the door, like nothing was in any way out of the ordinary.

She'd confronted him about it, big time. He'd tried to brush her off like normal, but this time she'd had too much. She kept on pushing him, shouting at him to try and get him to listen to her. And he'd suddenly become furious. He shouted her into a corner. He'd shouted before, so she wasn't that affected by it. But she was affected when he hit her.

A good solid punch, right to her jawline. She'd reeled back into the wall, stunned for a few moments. A hand went up to her lip, wiping away the blood that was already starting to bead around the split part. She looked back to him and saw nothing but rage in his eyes.

That's when she knew it was over. When she knew she couldn't deal with him anymore. She'd grabbed her overnight bag, packed Henry a few things, and left. The whole while Will was screaming at her, but she managed to ignore it. Until she was at the point of getting into her car. He'd followed her out to the driveway, yelling the whole way. She took a look into her car, where she'd already put Henry in his car seat. He was managing to sleep peacefully, which she was thankful for.

"You know what, Will? I've put up with your bullshit for far too long. I'm done with you," she said scathingly. And she'd hit him right back. She didn't give him time to react; she just left him standing there and got in her car. As she began driving down the street, she'd looked back. He was walking back into the house; hand over a heavily bleeding nose.

She'd had no idea where she was going, just driving around. She ignored her aching knuckles on the steering wheel, glancing back at Henry every few minutes.

Suddenly, she knew exactly where she was going. She caught herself following a familiar path. Though, as she pulled up to the nice little house, she wondered if she was making the right move. If she should really bother him. It wasn't his problem.

Though she couldn't deny why she'd come there. She knew what she'd been feeling about him as of late. The butterflies in her stomach whenever they'd touch, her cheeks go red whenever they'd make eye contact. And now, when she was upset, running to him.

She'd thought, once or twice, that just maybe he might return her feelings. She'd caught him staring at her a few times. Once he was even _smiling._

She sighed and thought for a few more minutes, before she saw the front door of the house open. Light spilled across the front lawn and onto her car. There was no backing out of this now. She got out of her car and met him as he reached the curb.

"JJ. What are you doing here?" he asked, sounding concerned. "Do we have a case?"

"No," she said quietly. "I just…"

She broke off, unable to really go on. Words were failing her. She didn't think she could really explain what she was doing there. She watched as he took in her appearance. Bloody and already bruised lip, disheveled hair, wrinkled blouse. His eyes traveled to the car, where he spotted her go bag in the front seat and Henry napping in his car seat.

"What happened?" he asked softly. And very suddenly, tears started rolling down her cheeks. She lost her composure completely. He looked bewildered for a moment, before he wrapped her in his arms comfortingly. He stood there for a second, before he told her to go inside. She paused for a few moments as he let her go and walked over to her car. He reached inside and pulled Henry out of his car seat, carrying him all the way up to his house.

She followed along behind him, watching as he settled Henry down on the couch. He'd grabbed a thick blanket and tucked it around the little boy. She couldn't help but smile a rather watery smile at just how natural that felt to her. She knew he was a good parent already, looking at how Jack had turned out.

After Henry was snuggled up and she had a fresh mug of steaming tea in her hands, he sat down next to her and asked again, "What's happened?"

"I just… I left Will," she admitted slowly. She had managed to calm down a bit while he was in the kitchen, fixing up the tea. She was no longer crying. She was just staring at her hands, which were holding the mug on her lap. "He came home drunk again. After three days of being MIA. And he was so angry."

She quickly looked up as she heard him make a loud noise of anger.

"Did he do that to you?" Hotch asked angrily, motioning to her lip. She nodded slightly. He shook his head as he stood up and walked into his bathroom, returning with a damp cloth. He cleaned the blood off of her lip, before getting a bit of ice for her to reduce the swelling.

"Thanks," she said softly as she took it and applied it to her lip, wincing slightly. He noticed the back of her had had a few slight bruises, and he raised his eyebrows a little bit.

"Where did that come from?" he questioned.

"It may have come from punching him in the nose in retaliation before I left," she mumbled. He laughed and she smiled a little bit.

"That's the typical feisty you," he said, grinning at her. She smiled a little bit wider.

"His nose was bleeding pretty badly," she admitted. He laughed again, before wrapping her in another hug.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that," he said quietly. She snuggled down into his chest, finding it a very comfortable place to be.

"It's okay," she said back. "It was a long time coming."

As she sat there a while longer, his comforting arms around her, JJ realized something. She wasn't one bit upset that she was done with Will. In fact, she was almost relieved. With that in mind, she sat up and looked over at Hotch. He stared right back at her, but it wasn't his typical glare. She could see so much more in his expression. The sadness he felt for her, the anger he felt towards Will.

But there was one more thing she thought she could see in him. Almost… hope? For what? Maybe because she was single again?

Without a second though, she leaned in and kissed him. She could tell he was surprised, but it only took him a second to get over that. He put his arms back around her, and she suddenly felt a wave of contentment wash over her.

"I'm so glad you aren't with Will anymore," he whispered as they finally broke apart.

"So am I," she said, smiling up at him. "In more ways than one."

JJ was suddenly broken out of her memories by a high pitched scream coming from the jungle gym. She looked up very quickly, her eyes scanning to find Henry. She was happy to see that he wasn't the one crying over a large scrape up his elbow.

She settled back down on the bench and thought about that day, two years ago now. She still remembered nearly everything about it. It was the first day of a new chapter in her life. A much happier chapter.

An unexpected voice from behind her said, "JJ?" She turned quickly, surprised to see Jack standing there.

"What are you doing here?" she asked the eight year old, who had a sort of suspicious grin on his face. Henry ran up to him and stood by his side, and he too held the same expression. "And what's going on?" she added.

"Well, we have a question for you," Jack said.

"And what would that be?"

Jack unzipped the hoodie he was wearing, revealing a shirt that said 'JJ. I love you.' She stared at him for a minute, very confused, before she watched Henry fumble with the buttons on his shirt. Once he had managed to get it off, she saw that he had a similar shirt on underneath. His read 'Will you pretty please'. She stared at both of them now, now extremely confused.

She caught sight of something moving off to her left, and as she turned she saw Aaron standing there, wearing a shirt that matched the boys. Her heart began to thump as she read the two words printed on it. 'Marry Me?'

She stared at the words printed on his chest for a moment, her mind not really understanding what they were saying. Though, everything clicked into place when he bent down on one knee and pulled out a little velvet box. He grinned as she gasped and stood up.

"Oh my god! Aaron!" she said. "I… Yes! Of course!"

She flung herself down onto him, hugging him just about as tightly as she could. She was vaguely aware that both the boys standing off to the side were cheering.

There weren't enough gentlemen left in the world. That was true. But she had managed to find herself one of the most amazing ones left. And she couldn't have been happier.

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**So, how was my very first ship fic? Reviews are appreciated! =D**


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